'London vs. the Rest' Is the Wrong Approach

As someone who lives in Oxford but was born a Londoner, I don't understand the hatred directed at London from many of those living in other British cities.

There are good reasons I don't live in London today: high living costs, road congestion, and the fact that it's tough to run into friends in such a large city. Low-level irritation with a city the size of London is understandable. But one common contention coming from other British cities is that London sucks talent and economic activity from the rest of the UK; and that other UK cities would be much better off if London wasn't there.

Today, urban policy research group Centre for Cities has published its "Cities Outlook 2014" report about the relationship between London and other UK cities; and knocks down some of the misconceptions about the "harm" London does. Cities across the UK benefit from these relationships and no city can go it alone. This is a worthwhile lesson for small cities worried they are losing out to a larger rival.

Emulating London's elected assembly, based at City Hall, could help other British cities
(Source: Maciek Lulko via Flickr)

The report does not try to dispel the notion of our capital city's dominance. It is home to 19% of UK jobs, 21% of UK businesses, and 25% of UK economic output; but does this harm other cities? Here are three common arguments:

London sucks up all the talent: In general, the data backs up this argument. One third of people in the UK in their 20s who decided to relocate between 2009 and 2012 moved to London; and more people in their 20s move into London than those who move out. This makes sense given there are more graduate jobs in London than other UK cities.

But things change as people hit their 30s and move away for a better quality of life, which is often linked with having children. In all age groups over the age of 30, more people move out of London than move into it.

Even so, 60% of those leaving London stay in the city's commuter belt, which shows how the city retains its attraction even to those escaping.

London's success is a threat to other cities: London sucks up talent from the rest of the country and some commentators argue London's growth should be limited to help rebalance the economy. Centre for Cities says this would do more harm than good.

London-headquartered businesses account for a significant proportion of jobs in other British cities. For example, 22% of people working in the private sector in York are employed by London-headquartered businesses; and other cities would lose out if growth in London were somehow curtailed.

The rest of the country is a drain on London: Since 2010, 79% of private sector job growth in Britain has happened in London; and London contributes more to the Treasury in tax than is spent on its public services. Pro-London commentators say this shows the rest of the country is holding London back.

This ignores a couple of facts. The first is that the city depends on the talented young people trained in other parts of the country; and the second is that the people who work in London don't necessarily live there or use public services there. London can only do what it does with support from everywhere else.

It also relies on technological innovation happening in the rest of the country. Cambridge, Swindon, and Edinburgh are listed as the three UK cities with the most patents per 100,000 residents, and London comes only 23rd on this list.

The lesson here is that even a large city like London cannot succeed alone; and if a country is going to be successful then it needs cities to both compete and cooperate.

We can still demand changes. The government could give London more powers to raise taxes and increase investment in infrastructure, including homes, transport, and tech. It could also give big cities like Birmingham and Manchester more powers to help them economically, such as an elected mayor, power over transport budgets so they can make improvements, and more strategic planning powers.

Policies like those would help our smaller cities. They'll do much more than a vague notion of getting rid of London or pretending it doesn't exist.

Re: A Balanced Recovery? I'm with Timothy Dixon and @stillalive on this.

This isn't really about London and other cities; it's about the rest of the country versus south-east England which is all becoming part of Greater London. 40 years ago a house in zone 1 (i.e. near the centre) could be bought for about 5-6 times a graduate's salary now the same house would be over 30 times the annual salary. People are now travelling as much as 4 hours a day in order to work in London. From as far away as Norwich in the north and Hastings in the south, simply because that's where the jobs are but they can't afford to live the lifestyle they want near to where they work. The average commute time in London is now 90 minutes a day, or a working day per week.

Yes London is a great economic success but is it really the best model for happiness and quality of life? Do we really want the centres of our cities to be 'occupied' by people who don't live there but simply use property as a 'bank'. Is this the measure of success?

As Bob Dylan said 'There's no success like failure and failure's no success at all'

Re: Oh, that old refrain Singapore is lovely. Everything works and the city is safe and clean - the only place in Asia where food bought from street stalls is guaranteed safe to eat.
But it's boring especially for kids whose parents are there because it's safe and provides a good education. My colleagues were passionate about the place but the "five things to do over a weekend" was a running joke.
It's not great for political dissent either. I'm not sure how you describe a popular and successful political system that is dramatically less corrupt that most others but has strong totalitarian tendencies. It isn't democratic but it does work.

Re: Oh, that old refrain People, particularly the young mobile, will go where the excitement is. If London didn't exist you'd need to invent it to stop all the talent heading off somewhere else. In the sixties we had the "brain drain" of people to the US
But you have to have a balance of attractions for it to work as well as London does now. Jobs, obviously but also almost unlimited leisure and cultural opportunities in a democracy with a reasonable legal system well connected to the rest of the world. Pity about the weather.
Abu Dhabi, Doha and many, many other places don't fit that description. Hong Kong still does, but be careful with whom you disagree in Singapore (and find me 5 things to do on a weekend stopover)

Re: Oh, that old refrain A power list there, Terry. Though Washington DC and Vatican City I'm not so sure about, since they derive their strengths from specific organizations, and since there are well-documented financial sinkholes in each. Then again, with the new "Power Pope," perhaps Vatican City will gain more traction. Perhaps an unspiritual way to view it, but I mean no disrespect. It's clear that the new head of the RC Church is gaining popularity -- and that can translate to more visits to the city state, more support for its programs, etc.

Re: Oh, that old refrain Yes, all good examples, Mary. Or Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Monaco, Vatican City, and the District of Columbia. Not sure that this exactly constitutes a real trend since the origin, economic engine(s), and history of each is unique and not necessarily replicable.

Re: Oh, that old refrain It's a good question, Mary... actually several good questions. Given the economic heft of urban centers (and migration to big cities of the last 20+ years), the resurrection of the city-state doesn't seem so far-fetched.
At least in the US, though, cities will have a hard time weaning themselves from the money they get from federal sources (military, transportation, agriculture, to name but a few).

Re: Oh, that old refrain Just wanted to add to your comment on Quebec, @Terry: That province may have learned a lesson, but just barely. It came perilously close (I think the referendum was 51 to 49%) to disrupting Canadian unity.

There are still plenty of people in Quebec who think they should live in their own country.

It kind of makes me wonder, though: Eventually, the boundaries of some cities and nations are bound to shift. (Could the New England states, for instance, move into Canada, while Quebec goes it alone? Could London break away into its own fiefdom?) Just some vague musings on what is perhaps inevitable in some instances?

Well, here's where it gets political! The report can be interpreted in different ways. Some may say the findings represent a failure of Coalition policies. Inequalities are in danger of increasing between London/SE and the rest of the UK--this is not surprising given the austerity cuts which have hit many northern cities. A growing London is good but if 'competition' -led policies continue to fail, and a fragmented landscape of LEPs cannot join up, many fear the next round of spending cuts will fuel further polarisation (as plans to 'shrink the state' take root). City Deals and a low carbon economy could offer some positives here but only if leadership at city level enables those partnerships to work. In my view the Coalition has failed to understand how a green economy with capital investment can nurture growth in cities that need it--regional growth policies and an agenda that devolves power to cities and enables them to get creative with funding streams can help, but much more needs to be done at all levels to address this.

So it's not a questionof London v the rest of the country. With the right policy mix in place it doesn't have to be this way. But in my view we can't rely on trickle down benefits!

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